A LESSON IN SECURITY / UKCase example of Panasonic security system

A LESSON IN SECURITY / UK

St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy in Blackburn opts for performance, quality and reliability as they upgrade their surveillance system with Panasonic for the third time.

Back in 2004, the old mill building in Blackburn which housed St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy was knocked down to make way for a brand new 'built for purpose' school. This state-of-the-art education centre opened its doors in 2007, complete with a Panasonic surveillance system consisting of 25 cameras to ensure the safety to staff and students.

The subsequent expansion of the Academy required the surveillance system to expand, a total of 45 cameras were installed by 2009.

Finally in July 2014, Panasonic distributers Catchpoint UK Ltd upgraded the Academy's surveillance system further, ready to go live for the new academic year in September 2014. The system now comprises over 80 cameras, with new cameras added to the existing security infrastructure installed in 2004.

Simon McNamara, Project Manager at Catchpoint UK Ltd said, "We asked Panasonic to come to talk to us about their latest equipment and with their help and advice we have extended the original system to cope with the increased demand now placed on it. In doing so, we have given

St Wilfrid's improved performance within the system, using HD cameras and the latest recording platform."

"We had no hesitation in choosing Panasonic again."

Andy Cattanach, Strategic Manager ICT at St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy said, "The system has been reliable ever since it was originally installed, and when we realised that we needed to increase the number of cameras, we had no hesitation in choosing Panasonic again.

"We are now on the third phase of installation, and our total number of cameras has almost doubled from the initial number. We are noticing a significant improvement in image quality with the newer cameras, just as we were advised to expect."

Installing the cameras

The latest upgrade to the school's security system provides high definition (720p HD) live and recorded images from 19 Panasonic WV-SF335 cameras in key areas, as well as SVGA images from 17 WV-SF332 cameras elsewhere in the school.
The latest video recording (WJ-ND400) and video management software platform (WV-ASM200) has been installed, enabling the benefits of the high definition cameras to be fully utilised.

As well as giving the means to detect unauthorised persons within the school grounds, the CCTV systems help reduce the amount of time teachers spend investigating the infrequent incidents of bad behaviour amongst pupils. CCTV systems in schools hold a number of other advantages which include:

The use of a completely IP based solution for St Wilfrid's instead of a traditional analogue system means the installation labour time is significantly reduced. This allows for the savings to be passed back to the school so more funds can be put towards educational resources for students and less has to be spent on infrastructure.